Ali Smith Quotes

Hopefully, I have a certain amount of what you call musical talent.

If I could sing, I wouldn't be a guitarist.

Playing guitar is not a beauty contest.

The one thing I do know is that I'm the best Taylor Hawkins drummer there is, and that is all I can hope to be. And when it comes to music, musicianship and skill, there is no such thing as better or worse because so much is personal opinion, and I can see that now.

In order to play and write, it's unique - you either do one or the other.

If I had spent a quarter of the time that I spent manipulating my sexuality in front of a piano instead, I would be the most gifted piano player of my lifetime.

I was always good at music.

I'm an okay drummer, I'm an okay bass player, I'm an okay keyboardist, and I'm a quite good guitar player.

I played cello on my early recordings, but that doesn't mean I'm a cellist, you know?

You know, I am very versatile in music.

There are more bad musicians than there is bad music.

I consider myself to be an inept pianist, a bad singer, and a merely competent songwriter. What I do, in my opinion, is by no means extraordinary.

I wish I was a shredder that could play everything, but I don't have the patience.

I'm a slow learner. When people are so talented or facile at picking up an instrument and playing covers, like Yo La Tengo, I admire that. But I could never do that.

Guitar playing isn't really for everybody.

I play guitar... I like to say that I'm pretty good, but it takes someone else to tell you that you're really good.

The drummer is stereotypically the dumb guy. Maybe that's why I always respect drummers who do more than drum.

My first two records are so simply constructed. The reason isn't because I wanted to make simple music. It's because I don't really have the chops.

Why would you want to stand there waving a stick when you could be playing an instrument?

My harmony is passable but is usually made more eloquent at the hands of Steve Hamilton.

See, I'm not a very good musician.

I'm never gonna be a Carlos Santana - an instrumentalist. I just like songs. It's three minutes of something that can be very powerful.

I took the rhythm place, which a lot of people didn't know how to do the way I could, and this was really the first time that Johnny had a rhythm guitar player.

Any idiot who knows five chords can bang a song together. But it's probably going to be rubbish.

I know I'm a strong performer. I'm not an evolved musician.